Tuesday, August 11, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

The Royal Inscriptions of Ur-Namma

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

The Founding King of the Third Dynasty of Ur

Ur-Namma founded the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2112 BCE, the first of five kings — himself, Šulgi, Amar-Suena, Šu-Suen, and Ibbi-Suen — who governed a reunified Sumer and Akkad for roughly a century after the collapse of the Akkadian empire and the Gutian interlude that followed it. He is remembered above all as the builder of the ziggurat of Ur, the stepped temple-tower he raised for the moon god Nanna at the dynasty's capital, substantial portions of which still stand at the site today. One of the tablets in this volume is catalogued as the Laws of Ur-Namma, an early Sumerian legal collection bearing his name.

This volume gathers the fifty-three inscriptions of Ur-Namma preserved in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), each with either a published English translation or, where none yet exists, an honestly marked gap. Most are short: a formula of only a few lines, stamped or incised on bricks, foundation cones, door sockets, foundation tablets, and stone or clay tablets recovered from Ur, Nippur, Eridu, Uruk, Larsa, Umma, Bad-tibira, and Girsu, recording that for some god Ur-Namma built, restored, or dug a temple, wall, or canal. A smaller group of stone vessels, mace heads, a vase, bowls, and a bead carry personal votive dedications to various gods for the king's own well-being. A last group of seals and sealings names Ur-Namma not as author but as the overlord of officials in his service, or as father and husband of members of his own household.

The material is arranged here by ETCSRI's own RIME catalogue numbering, in three parts: building and public-works inscriptions, votive dedications, and seals or sealings of the royal household. The English below is ETCSRI's own published translation, reproduced verbatim and reformatted into continuous reading prose; where a text has no translation yet, or a line is too damaged to render, that gap is marked in place rather than filled. This volume opens the library's Ur III sequence, standing beside the two companion volumes already published here on Gudea of Lagaš; each of Ur-Namma's four successors — Šulgi, Amar-Suena, Šu-Suen, and Ibbi-Suen — has his own collected edition on this same shelf.

Contents

Part I. Temple, Wall, and Canal Inscriptions

The great majority of the corpus: the standard royal building formula — for such-and-such a god, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, built, restored, or dug this temple, wall, or canal — repeated across the objects recovered from Ur and the other cities of his kingdom. A few texts carry more than the formula: a border adjudication for the trading ships of Magan on behalf of the god Nanna (no. 18), several canals dug for Nanna and Enlil (nos. 26, 27, 28, 39, 40), and one tablet catalogued as the Laws of Ur-Namma (no. 20), for which ETCSRI's transliteration survives but no published English translation exists yet.

Ur-Namma 02

Brick, door socket; clay, stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0002; ETCSRI Q000935.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, who built the temple of Nanna.

Ur-Namma 03

Hemispherical cup; copper; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0003; ETCSRI Q001619.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, who built the temple of Nanna.

Ur-Namma 04

Brick; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0004; ETCSRI Q000936.

For Nanna, his master, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, built his temple (and) built the wall of Urim.

Ur-Namma 05

Brick; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0005; ETCSRI Q000937.

For An, king of the gods, his master, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, planted a lofty garden, (and) set up a sanctuary for him in a pure place.

Ur-Namma 06

Door socket; stone; Kuar. RIME 3/2.01.01.0006; ETCSRI Q001620.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, who built the temple of Ninsumun.

Ur-Namma 07

Foundation tablet; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0007; ETCSRI Q001621.

For Ninšagepada, his lady, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, built her temple.

Ur-Namma 08

Door socket; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0008; ETCSRI Q001622.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, who built the temple of Ninsumun.

Ur-Namma 09

Stele; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0009; ETCSRI Q001623.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim.

Ur-Namma 10

Brick; clay; Eridu. RIME 3/2.01.01.0010; ETCSRI Q000938.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, who built the temple of Enki in Eridug.

Ur-Namma 11

Cone; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0011; ETCSRI Q000939.

For Nanna, the fierce calf of An, the firstborn child of Enlil, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, built his E-temen-ni-guru.

Ur-Namma 12

Brick; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0012; ETCSRI Q000940.

For Nanna, the firstborn child of Enlil, his master, Ur-Namma, lord of Unug, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built and restored the E-temen-ni-guru, his beloved temple.

Ur-Namma 13

Door socket; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0013; ETCSRI Q000941.

For Ningal, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built her Ĝipar-kug.

Ur-Namma 14

Door socket; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0014; ETCSRI Q000942.

For Ninegala, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built her temple.

Ur-Namma 15

Brick; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0015; ETCSRI Q000943.

For Inana, the lady of Kugnun, his lady, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, built her temple.

Ur-Namma 16

Door socket; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0016; ETCSRI Q000944.

For Inana, lady of Kugnun, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the Ešbur, her beloved temple.

[Part of this inscription is transliterated but not yet translated by ETCSRI; nothing is invented here to fill the gap.]

Ur-Namma 17

Cone; clay; Diqdiqqah. RIME 3/2.01.01.0017; ETCSRI Q000945.

For Nanna, the firstborn child of Enlil, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, the builder of Nanna’s temple, restored the ancient state of affairs: he let the sea merchants reach the quay walls on the seashore, and returned the Magan boats under (Nanna’s) authority.

Ur-Namma 18

Foundation tablet; limestone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0018; ETCSRI Q001624.

When Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the temple of Nanna, then by the just decision of Utu he adjudged the border territory for the ships of Magan that An and Enlil had bestowed upon (Nanna) to Nanna, his master. He returned it under (Nanna’s) control, and afterwards dedicated a statue of himself to him.

Whoever gives order to perform a misdeed against it, calls in question (the content of) its inscription, may Nanna, my lord,...!...., may he make him live...! May his city fall out of his favour! May he sit in the dust instead of his throne! May his city expel him from under the reed canopy! May his life be miserable!

Ur-Namma 19

Cone; clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0019; ETCSRI Q000946.

For Nanna, the first-born son of Enlil, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, drained a swamp planted with date palms seedlings, a genuine swamp, with an area of 3600 bur, and created a levee for it in the length of 4 dana 260 nindan. He donated (the drained swamp) to Urim for ever.

The name of this levee is “Who is like Nanna?”.

Ur-Namma 20 (= Laws of Ur-Namma)

Tablet; clay; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0020; ETCSRI Q000947.

[This inscription — 62 transliterated lines — has no published English translation in ETCSRI yet; the project is an ongoing scholarly corpus, and no translation is invented here to fill the gap.]

Ur-Namma 21, ex. 1

Stele; stone; unclear. RIME 3/2.01.01.0021.0001; ETCSRI Q001625.

When An and Enlil looked with their gracious face at Nanna and gave him the kingship of Urim, then Ur-Namma, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, the beloved house-born slave of Nanna, the follower of Enlil's orders, confirmed the borders (separating) the gods by the just decision of Utu. He assigned subsistance fields to their people and marked their borders firmly.

Ur-Namma 23

Foundation tablet; limestone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0023; ETCSRI Q001628.

For Ninsumun, his personal god, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the E-mah, his beloved temple.

Ur-Namma 24

Brick, foundation tablet, canephors; clay, stone, bronze; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0024; ETCSRI Q000949.

Ur-Namma, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, who built the temple of Enlil.

Ur-Namma 25

Door socket; stone; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0025; ETCSRI Q000950.

For Enlil, king of all lands, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the E-kur, his beloved temple.

Ur-Namma 26

Cone; clay; Diqdiqqah. RIME 3/2.01.01.0026; ETCSRI Q000951.

For Enlil, king of all lands, his master, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built his temple, and dug the Id-en-eren-nun canal, his canal of food offerings.

Ur-Namma 27

Cone; clay; Bad-tibira. RIME 3/2.01.01.0027; ETCSRI Q001629.

For Inana, lady of the E-ana, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dug the Iturungal canal, her beloved canal.

Ur-Namma 28

Cone; clay; Girsu (modern Tello). RIME 3/2.01.01.0028; ETCSRI Q000952.

When Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the temple of Enlil, then for Nanna, the firstborn child of Enlil, his master, he dug the canal whose name is "Nanna is the canal inspector ", a boundary canal, extending it into the sea. By the just decision of Utu, he examined (the canal’s course) and approved it.

If anyone contest Nanna over (the canal), may he be king or a ruler, he should be treated as if he were cursed by Nanna! May he lose status in the dwelling of Nanna! May his city expel him from under the reed canopy! May his life be miserable!

Ur-Namma 31

Foundation tablet; stone; Eridu. RIME 3/2.01.01.0031; ETCSRI Q001632.

For Enki, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built his temple.

Ur-Namma 32

Door socket; stone; Eridu. RIME 3/2.01.01.0032; ETCSRI Q001633.

For Enki, the heavenly stormwind, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built his temple.

Ur-Namma 33

Brick; clay; Uruk. RIME 3/2.01.01.0033; ETCSRI Q000953.

For Inana, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built her temple.

Ur-Namma 34

Canephor, foundation tablet, door socket; bronze, steatite/basalt; Uruk. RIME 3/2.01.01.0034; ETCSRI Q000954.

For Inana, lady of the E-ana, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built and restored her temple.

Ur-Namma 35

Brick; clay; Larsa. RIME 3/2.01.01.0035; ETCSRI Q000955.

For Utu, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built his temple.

Ur-Namma 36

Foundation tablet; basalt; provenience unknown. RIME 3/2.01.01.0036; ETCSRI Q001634.

For Ninhursaĝa, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the temple in Keš, her beloved temple.

Ur-Namma 37

Door socket; stone; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0037; ETCSRI Q000956.

For Ninlil, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built her beloved storehouse.

Ur-Namma 38

Tablet; steatite; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0038; ETCSRI Q001635.

For Enlil, king of all lands, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, built the wall of Nibru.

Ur-Namma 39

Cone; clay; Diqdiqqah. RIME 3/2.01.01.0039; ETCSRI Q000957.

For Enlil, king of all lands, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dug the canal of Urim, his canal of food offerings.

Ur-Namma 40

Cone; clay; Diqdiqqah. RIME 3/2.01.01.0040; ETCSRI Q000958.

For Nanna, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dug the Id-nun, his beloved canal.

Part II. Votive Dedications

Smaller personal offerings — stone vessels, mace heads, a vase, bowls, and a bead — dedicated by Ur-Namma to Nanna, Šara, Gilgameš of Enegir, Nin-gublaga, and other gods for his own well-being. Several survive only in fragments, with the object's own damage leaving gaps that ETCSRI's translation marks rather than fills.

Ur-Namma 41

Vessel; stone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0041; ETCSRI Q001636.

For Nanna, his master, Ur-Namma,....

Ur-Namma 42

Vessel; alabaster; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0042; ETCSRI Q001637.

For Nanna, his master, Ur-Namma,....

Ur-Namma 43

Plaque; limestone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0043; ETCSRI Q001638.

To Ningal, his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dedicated this (plaque) for his well-being.

Ur-Namma 44

Vessel; marble; Umma. RIME 3/2.01.01.0044; ETCSRI Q001639.

For Šara, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad,....

Ur-Namma 45

Mace head; white marble; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0045; ETCSRI Q001640.

To Nanna, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dedicated this (mace) for his well-being.

Ur-Namma 46

Mace head; calcite; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0046; ETCSRI Q001641.

To Nin-gublaga, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, lord of Unug, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, dedicated this (mace) for his well-being.

Ur-Namma 47

Vase; marble; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0047; ETCSRI Q001642.

To Gilgameš of Enegir, his master, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, when he built the temple of Nanna, dedicated this (vase) for his well-being. Whoever erases its inscription, may Gilgameš curse him!

Ur-Namma 48

Bowl; calcite; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0048; ETCSRI Q001643.

..., Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim,....

Ur-Namma 49

Bowl; limestone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0049; ETCSRI Q001644.

..., his lady, Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim,....

Ur-Namma 50

Bead; obsidian; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0050; ETCSRI Q001645.

Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim.

Part III. Seals, Sealings, and the Royal Household

The remainder of the corpus: seal and sealing inscriptions naming Ur-Namma as overlord of officials in his service — his governor Ḫašḫamer, the captain Lugal-kugzu — or as father and husband of members of his own household — his spouse Watartum, his daughter-in-law Tarām-Urim, his daughter the priestess En-nirĝal-ana — together with two further vessels dedicated by Ur-Namma himself from the booty of a conquest of Susa.

Ur-Namma 51

Sealing (with seal impression); clay; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0051; ETCSRI Q001646.

Watartum, the spouse of Ur-Namma, king of Urim: Lugal-kugzu, the captain, is your servant.

Ur-Namma 52

Tablet; clay; Nippur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0052; ETCSRI Q001647.

..., her lady, Tarām-Urim, daughter of Apil-kīn, king of Mari, daughter-in-law of Ur-Namma, king of Urim,....

Ur-Namma 53 / CDLI Seals 006345

Seal (not impression); limestone; provenience unknown. RIME 3/2.01.01.0053; ETCSRI Q001648.

Puzur-Suen, the cultivator of Tarām-Urim.

Ur-Namma 54

Cone, bowl; stone, limestone; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0054; ETCSRI Q000959.

To Ningal, her lady, En-nirĝal-ana, en priestess of Nanna, (Ur-Namma's) beloved child, dedicated this (stand/bowl) for the well-being of Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad, her father.

Ur-Namma 55add (formerly Unattributed Ur III 1019-1021)

Vessel; limestone, calcite; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0055add; ETCSRI Q004896.

To..., when he conquered Susa and turned it into his booty, Ur-Namma, king of Urim, dedicated (this vase) for his well-being.

Ur-Namma 56add (formerly Unattributed Ur III 1022)

Vessel; alabaster; Ur. RIME 3/2.01.01.0056add; ETCSRI Q004897.

... by the... of Nanna..., when he šonquered Susa and turned it into his booty,....

Ur-Namma 2001 / CDLI Seals 005871

Seal (not impression); greenstone; provenience unknown. RIME 3/2.01.01.2001; ETCSRI Q001649.

Ur-Namma, the powerful man, king of Urim: Ḫašḫamer, the governor of Iškun-Suen, is your servant.

Colophon

Source and license. This edition reproduces the English translations of the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), an Oracc project directed by Gábor Zólyomi at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/), fetched 2026-08-07. The Oracc site states its content is "released under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license"; the project's own machine-readable data files carry the further statement "This data is released under the CC0 license" (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Both statements are recorded here; this edition credits ETCSRI and Gábor Zólyomi regardless of which license term governs a given file, per academic courtesy and per the Good Work Library's own attribution practice.

What this edition is. The English text above is ETCSRI's own published translation of every royal inscription of Ur-Namma, founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, in its corpus (53 texts), reproduced complete and verbatim from the project's HTML reading editions and reformatted from an interlinear word-by-word display into continuous reading prose. No word has been altered, paraphrased, or supplied by this library. Ellipses, question marks, and bracketed uncertainties are the source edition's own markers for damaged or doubtful text; where a text has no published translation yet, that gap is noted in place rather than filled. Untranslated single-word oddities native to the source data are reproduced exactly as ETCSRI's markup has them rather than silently corrected, since this is a source-text intake rather than a Good Works Translation. Two honest gaps are noted in place: the tablet catalogued as the Laws of Ur-Namma (no. 20) is transliterated but has no published English translation in ETCSRI yet, and three lines of the door-socket inscription no. 16 likewise await translation.

Composite identification. The standard scholarly editions of this material are the RIME volumes (The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods, University of Toronto Press); each text above carries its RIME number where assigned and its ETCSRI composite ID (Q-number), under which the full transliteration, morphological analysis, exemplar list, and any Hungarian translation can be found at ETCSRI's own site.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted research, transcription, and editorial work.

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